Dead Rodent Plunder

Zoe's Rocking Chair

There's a certain level of tolerance one needs to live in the country due to the proximity of wildlife. Unless you go to great lengths to kill everything off, you're going to have to deal with woodland invaders from time to time.

I'm lucky my dog and cat do a fairly good job of patrolling the interior borders of my house for unwanted intruders.

Unfortunately, that patrolling does no good beyond the walls of my abode. So the invasive fuzzies keep attacking my castle, while my guard animals keep protecting it.

Of course, sometimes my dear Zoe (pictured in chair) goes above and beyond the call of duty and stops the invading army of rodents before they have a chance to infiltrate. Her enthusiasm for tracking down and eliminating any and all rodents is quite admirable, if not borderline fanatical.

Take, for example, earlier today. She came with me while I was out doing yard work. Normally I don't bring her with but today I wasn't doing much, just checking on some stuff. She made a bee line straight for the underside of the porch and refused to come out. No amount of calling, bribing or pulling on her lead (once I got it attached) would discourage her from the hunt.

She refused to budge until she caught her prey. The sneaky little bastard was an adult rat that was no doubt looking for a way past my defenses.

Zoe was so proud of herself too. She was even willing to dispose of the body by eating it. So it comes as no surprise how unhappy she was when I took the enemies body away for proper disposal.

She even refused her consolation prize of a tasty dog treat. I guess some things can't be replaced.